DIY TOOL WIND CHIME

Prepare yourself for another post in our Crafty Chaos series...

Wind chimes are the perfect way to add some extra character to your yard, and with the right TOOLS, you can make a unique wind chime of your own! It can be neutral and classy, or funky and colorful. It is a super flexible project with lots of possibilities, and it is fairly inexpensive, too. So let's get down to business...

Step 1: Gather the materials you want to use (DUH). Unless you are a hoarder, you will most likely need to do some shopping. You will need some kind of base to hand your tools from, a wind variety of "clangy" tools (wrenches are great for making some noise), and a type of cord to tie the tools to. If you want to paint anything, then obviously you will want some spray paint to do that with as well. 

Step 2: Start shooting those tools and your base (with the spray paint, of course)!  Don't forget to prime them first so the spray paint will go on nicely and stay on better. 

Step 3: Break out the cord and figure out how long you want each strand to be. Kaitlyn and I did this together; one of us held the base and the other tied the cord to the tool and held it up to the base so we could decide how long we wanted it to be. We decided to vary the length from cord to cord.

Step 4: It is time to cut the cord and burn the ends! (Well, the burning part only applies if you are using of rope/cord...we just burned yummy smelling candle and used it to burn the ends so they did not fray. If you use a non-fraying cord, you can scratch the burn part and simply cut.)

Step 5: Tie the cord to both the tools and the base, and use a little hot glue to help the knot hold on a little tighter (although you probably do not NEED the hot glue...but what would the Hot Glue and Sparkle girl be without hot glue?!).

Step 6: Find a friend to ask for their opinion. See if they think you need to adjust anything, just in case! We asked our puppy, Shadow, for his opinion. Fortunately, he thought it was perfect...even perfect enough to eat! :)

And there you have an awesome tool wind chime! Hang it up and enjoy the beautiful clangs in the wind! :)

Materials:

-Base (we found and old, funny-looking candle holder at DI--but you can get nice metal rings, in different sizes, at Hobby Lobby for a couple of bucks)

-Cord (or tope, or string, or fishing line, or whatever). We tried fishing line, but had a hard time getting good knots around the tools (someone more knot-knowledgeable could probably use the fishing line without any problems--just remember to get a heavy-duty one since tools are a bit heavy). We just used a fun, bright cord that we picked up from Hobby Lobby for a couple of dollars (on the same aisle as the leather crafts--they have a bunch of colors).

-Tools! Anything metal that will make fun sounds when they clang together. Wrenches are awesome! We got a package of 10 or so for about $7 in the Value Tools section at WalMart. We also picked up nuts and bolts (packages for $1-3), door hinges ($1-2), a combination lock ($1), etc, but decided we had too much to fit on this wind chime--so we've saved some of those supplies to use another day on a different project.

-Spray paint--if you want to spray your tools a different color. We used several different Krylon metallic colors--but it could also be fun to do several bright colors--or you could leave the tools as they are and not spray them at all. You will also want a primer  (Krylon has a great primer, too). Krylon products can be found at Hobby Lobby, Smith's Marketplace, and WalMart for around $4.

If you give this project a try, let us know what tools and colors you use on  yours! We want to make another one soon...maybe something a little more colorful next time! Thanks for reading, and happy DIY-ing! :)

Love, the Sisters of Hot Glue and Sparkle,

Kaitlyn, Breann, and CJ

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